Overall Rating Platinum
Overall Score 86.18
Liaison Chris Adam
Submission Date Dec. 30, 2024

STARS v2.2

Dawson College
PA-10: Sustainable Investment

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 3.00 Chris Adam
Coordinator
Sustainability Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Positive sustainability investment

Total value of the investment pool:
1,053,753 US/Canadian $

Value of holdings in each of the following categories:
Value of holdings
Sustainable industries (e.g., renewable energy or sustainable forestry) 0 US/Canadian $
Businesses selected for exemplary sustainability performance (e.g., using criteria specified in a sustainable investment policy) 663,864 US/Canadian $
Sustainability investment funds (e.g., a renewable energy or impact investment fund) 0 US/Canadian $
Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) or the equivalent 0 US/Canadian $
Socially responsible mutual funds with positive screens (or the equivalent) 0 US/Canadian $
Green revolving funds funded from the endowment 0 US/Canadian $

If any of the above is greater than zero, provide:

A brief description of the companies, funds, and/or institutions referenced above:

Update 2024: The Dawson Foundation's investment policy and the managing firms's sustainability screening is used to ensure that a minimum of 60% of college foundation assets (and preferably higher) is invested in socially responsible investments. This was voted upon by the board, including Dawson student representation. The Portfolio strategy will be managed by CC&L Private Capital and implemented
using pooled funds. This allows efficient asset class and security diversification.


As referenced by CC&L Private Capital, the portfolio will be invested in proprietary pooled funds
representing various asset classes (e.g. fixed income, equities) as determined by the tactical
asset allocation decisions of CC&L Private Capital and implemented in accordance to our
Portfolio’s investment objective and constraints. The asset allocation may be adjusted from
time to time based on market conditions and/or changes to the investment objective. The
Portfolio will be managed on a total return basis (including interest, dividends and capital
growth).


Percentage of the institution's investment pool in positive sustainability investments:
63.00

Part 2. Investor engagement

Sustainable investment policy 

Does the institution have a publicly available sustainable investment policy?:
Yes

None
A copy of the sustainable investment policy:
DCF-Investment-Policy-adopted-20240201-final-edit.pdf

None
The sustainable investment policy:
---

None
Does the institution use its sustainable investment policy to select and guide investment managers?:
Yes

A brief description of how the sustainable investment policy is applied:

Portfolio Management:
In 2019, the DCF Investment Committee created a request for proposal (RFP) outline for a
future best-in-class management firm and 5 Canadian companies were asked for a RFP. The
Committee evaluated the incoming proposals, presented results to the Board of Directors and
the Board selected CC&L Private Capital Group to manage the DCF funds in April, 2020. A review of managed funds is done annually by the Foundation investment committee.


Proxy voting 

Has the institution engaged in proxy voting, either by its CIR or other committee or through the use of guidelines, to promote sustainability during the previous three years?:
No

None
A copy of the proxy voting guidelines or proxy record:
---

None
A brief description of how managers are adhering to proxy voting guidelines:

n/a


Shareholder resolutions 

Has the institution filed or co-filed one or more shareholder resolutions that address sustainability or submitted one or more letters about social or environmental responsibility to a company in which it holds investments during the previous three years?:
No

Examples of how the institution has engaged with corporations in its portfolio about sustainability issues during the previous three years:

n/a


Divestment efforts and negative screens

Does the institution participate in a public divestment effort and/or have a publicly available investment policy with negative screens?:
Yes

A brief description of the divestment effort or negative screens and how they have been implemented:

Negative screening , as communicated to the investment firm and part of their mandate - no investments in military, nuclear, pornography, drugs, alcohol, smoking & gambling is part of firm mandate for investments with UN socially responsible investment guidelines..


Approximate percentage of endowment that the divestment effort and/or negative screens apply to:
60

Investor networks 

Does the institution engage in policy advocacy by participating in investor networks and/or engage in inter-organizational collaborations to share best practices?:
Yes

None
A brief description of the investor networks and/or collaborations:

The Foundation director sits on the provincial committee representing foundations provincially and provides a voice on procedure, policy or operational structure of Quebec college foundations. 

The director of the Office of Sustainability is also a Foundation Board director and chair of the investment committee (2020-2024). As such, he mentors several colleges in Canada directly, and gives workshops related to meeting AASHE indicator criteria on a national level.


Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s sustainable investment efforts is available:
---

Additional documentation to support the submission:
CCL_Responsible-Investing_EN_2021_FINAL.pdf

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Dawson Foundation

CC&L Private Capital

Foundation Investment Committee

UN Principles of Responsible Investments

 

* Update 2024: There is a discrepency between Pre-4 figure of $1.5M endowment amount and PA-10 investment pool figure of $1,053,753.0. At the date calculations were done of the the investment pool total ($1,053,753) and amount invested in positive sustainability investments, I was 62.99%. Half a year later the endowment fund grew and that amount $1.5M was entered in Pre-4. It should have reflected the $1,053,753 at the time of calculations. 


The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.